Alive and Fighting! Sickly graceed girl can't discover her grace!
by GracedSwimmer
Summary: Luna is a sickly girl living in the world where graceling takes place. She is a graceling, but at her age of 16, she still cannot learn her talent. When her graceling sister is hunted down for a crime, Luna must save her, whether she is ill or not. After barely saving her sister, Luna is seeking refuge far away. While being hunted, Luna must survive. Will she? Will her grace show?
1. Chapter 1: The Death

_Just to make things clear, I do not own graceling. The ideas belong to Kristin Cashore, but the characters were purely invented by me. Thank you!_

**The day of the discovery...**

Lunael glanced at the sky thoughtlessly. It was blue, it was speckled with white. Her parents sat with her, anxiously coaxing her and crying. She was four years old, and her parents were very protective. They had always boasted to their friends that they would never have a graced child, it simply would never happen.

That changed today.

Lunael, their third child, had clear, strong blue eyes up to date. When she woke up this morning, one of her eyes was less blue than the other. It was a light, misty grey. Her light and curly brown hair fell over her new eyes, and when she woke up and noticed this, Lunael giggled. She didn't care about being mistreated and different. She lived in a huge mansion with caring parents, thats all she really loved or cared about. Not the coloring of her eyes.

Now, Lunael sat with her parents, who fought and disputed on what to do. Little Luna sat and stared around.

"Why are you fighting over my eyes?" The girl asked plainly, and her parents replied lamely.

The next day, Luna's eyes were fully settled. One was a deep, dark blue, the other was much lighter, no longer misty but now a silky, oily silver. Luna's eyes had transitioned quickly.

The day again after this, soldiers came into Luna's house. Her parents being landlords, her eyes were quickly discovered and she would be taken. That is what happened. Luna was taken, and she stayed calm despite it all. In her head, she was screaming and thrashing, wishing to be free. Luna was being taken away forever.

**Today**

Luna lay on her bed, lying in a solitary room away from people. The only person she ever saw was Laieda, the kind maid who brought her food. Luna was stuck here. She was 16, and her grace had not yet showed itself. She was one of the rare gracelings to emerge so late, and in turn, she was extremely sick, all the time. It would never get better, and many predicted that the only hope would be if she discovered her graceling. It was true, this had happened to a few others like her.

While Luna slept, she thought of the sky, the moon, the oceans. She wanted to be fierce and cunning. She remembered her family, since she was a late bloomer, and she had heard of her sister. Luna's sister was her role model. She was born a year after Luna was taken, and she was also strangely a graceling. Luna's sister, Brisha, was now eleven. Even at this young age, Brisha was talented. She was graced with wishing, and her grace had been put to use. She wished for anything, food, water, money, and it always came. One time the king wanted a diamond jewel, and the next month, he received one from an old friend. Brisha's talent was amazing, but if she used it to much, misfortune came to her and the people whom she wished for. So she didn't use it often, but it was still handy.

Laying on her bed, frightened by noises outside, Luna lay paralyzed. She was trapped in a mysterious place, as she had been before. A dream. In her vision, or dream, Luna was lying on a beach. Water lapped her feet, and a figure appeared in the water. She was beautiful, a girl with long, blond hair. It flowed behind her, trailing into the salty liquid. The girl's eyes were not normal, too. She had a bright pink eye and a navy one. She was graced. Luna looked at her.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She demanded the woman, who kept moving closer. Luna couldn't move from her spot on the beach.

"I am a graceling, like you. I have come to bring you grave news," the woman said in a clear, woeful voice. "Your sister, she is not graced with wishing. The king has just discovered this, and he wishes to use her for better uses now. You know how this will go," the woman sighed. Luna's jaw froze. She was the only one who was friends with her sister, and knew her sister's real grace. It was indeed not wishing. It was a deep and dark grace, one that no one wanted to know. Now the word was out, and Brisha would be used.

Luna snapped out of her dream. She sat up, her legs aching. Her fever began to rise, but she tore at the bedsheets. Luna opened the door to her bedroom, feeling sick and worried. She stumbled through the castle corridors. Then one turned, and she bumped straight into her sister.

"Brisha! There you are!" Luna shouted, louder than she should have. Tears streamed from her sister's eyes, which glittered yellow and green. "I'm frightened, Luna, I'm frightened," she cried out. Luna heard shouts and a muffled, "she went that way," and Luna guided Brisha to her room. Once they were inside, Luna locked the door. She opened her closet door, and then fell inside. Luna felt worse than she had ever. Brisha followed her in, and hid under something. Luna stood up, and brushed herself off.

"Why are they after you? Do they know your full grace?" Luna muttered anxiously.

"Yes, they know what I can do. I can... I mean, they know I can... torture a man with the sight of my bare eyes. I did it, by accident, to the king. I looked at him and he looked at me, and then he slumped over... Dead..." Brisha gasped, tears streaming from her eyes. Luna's face turned pale. This was worse than she thought. The king had died from her grace? He was dead? And now they were after her.

Luna shut the closet door quickly. She fell into her bed, and pulled the covers over her head. She pretended to sleep.

Soldiers banged on her door. "Let us in! We search for a runaway graceling!" They screamed while pounding on the door. Luna stumbled from bed, and opened the door. Several soldiers streamed in. "Your sister," they muttered, a grim smile on their face. "she killed the king. We'll give her, and you, a slow, painful death when we find her, in here," one soldier muttered. One opened the closet door with a bang. He lifted up a blanket, and revealed Brisha. She screamed and punched him, and then stared him in the eye angrily. Luna looked away. He fell to the ground, clutching his arm and cursing. The next man shut his eyes and tackled her.. Several other guards took Luna by the arms, dragging her through the door and hallways. Luna suddenly felt worried for her sister, and she felt exhausted from the little running and searching she had done the whole day. Luna let unconsciousness sweep her away.

_Author's mini-note:_**  
**

_Thank you for reading chapter 1! Hope you enjoy, and thank you, again!_

_Suggestions open!_


	2. Chapter 2: Escape

Luna woke up with a snap. She was chained to a dim grey wall, in a small, dark room. There was a door bolted shut on one corner. The smell of rotten food filled the air, and Luna felt dizzy. She was in the dungeon. A little shaft of light crept up and out through the window on the door bars. She could hear a random shout coming from somewhere, and a rat scurrying about. Luna felt vulnerable in this darkness. She stepped up to the shaft of light near the door, her chain barely stretching that far.

Luna sat down on the damp and cold floor. She'd have to live here. May as well make living conditions as good as possible. Luna crawled over to a bed, a simple wooden frame emerging from the walls with an old, stained mattress. There was a ratty blanket with holes, and a hideous white pillow. Luna did not want to sleep on this bed. She checked underneath, and there was a large cobweb and some moss. Luna grabbed the moss, and took out a huge chunk. It wasn't enough. She moved as far as her chain would allow, the walls of her room, and then, Luna found several more bits of moss. She could live here. But every second, Luna wondered and worried about Brisha. Her sister couldn't kill off an army with her eyes. Brisha would have a long, painful death if she was captured, anyways. Luna didn't want that.

That night, Luna had a half-bed made of moss and the ratty blanket underneath. It wasn't very comfortable, but the mattress and pillow were not an option. Luna would simply not lie on that bed. She coughed several times, and then sighed. It was cold in this dungeon. Luna felt more and more sick by the second. Her fever, which had gone away slightly, began to return. Luna lay shivering most of the night.

In the morning, the first thing Luna noticed was light. Light pouring into the dungeon, gleaming off the dark walls. The dungeon, for once, had a bit of light. Luna wondered where it came from, it surely didn't come from the sun. The clammy dungeons were too far underground. Luna peeked out the bars, and she saw a bit of a lantern. Last night it had been fading away, the light. Now, it was burning. The lantern must have just been replenished.

For the next three days, Luna lived in rough conditions. She was hungry and thirsty by the second day, and that very day (day or night, Luna didn't know), an old man came and brought her a stale piece of bread, some cold rice, and an old chicken leg. There was also a large glass of water. Luna quickly devoured the food, and then she lay down. All the time, Luna worried and worried endlessly about her sister. Was she safe? Was she dead? Luna tried not to cry about it, while she began to feel rebellious and wished to escape.

On the fifth day of being in the dungeon, Luna had formed a plan. She had decided, that, her sister, if alive, would need help. Luna kept track of her plan with a sketch of the castle in the ground. She covered it when people brought her food, and kept it safe like a diamond ring. While Luna coughed and painfully swirled little lines in soft dirt, nobody came. She was thirsty, tired, and sick. her hunger had faded. Luna's plan looked complete by the end of day five, and she was ready to put it into action. Now, she had to put it into action.

Swiftly, Luna shut her eyes. She picked up a rock. Luna threw it from the bars in the window, and it hit the lantern softly. It wasn't hard enough. Luna took another tiny pebble, and aimed at the light. She threw it with the strength of a monster, and it smashed into the glass. In an instant, the lantern fell to the ground and all light faded. Luna grinned. She began to scream.

"HELP, HELP! SOMETHING'S DOWN HERE, IT'S IN MY CELL! HELP ME, OH, PLEASE! IT IS HUGE! I THINK ITS A MONSTER!" Luna cried and thrashed. A sudden creaking noise was heard, and then a shout in reply.

"Please don't scream, or we'll execute you!" A voice called.

"A MONSTER! A MONSTER! HELP! ITS HUGE! HELP ME!" Luna cried and screamed. Then, a shuffling noise approached, and Luna waited by the door, but not to be seen. She screamed again, and the door burst open.

In an instant, Luna took action. While the soldiers glanced into the depths of the room, swords drawn, Luna slipped out of the door. She raced through the stinking hallways. A few seconds later, the clacking of metal armour filled the air, and men shouted. Luna slid down the corridors, and decided to hide. She noticed an ope cell. Luna headed into the room, and shut the door behind her, but not fully, for it could lock. She then hid out of sight. Soldiers ran past her cell she was hiding in, and she slid out. Luna then raced through the dungeons, faintly calling Brisha's name. Nobody answered. She found and exit, and escaped quickly. Brisha must be dead.

Luna flew from one end of the castle to the next. She bolted through the entrance, alerting many soldiers she was out. Her dirty appearance proved to them that she was from the dungeons. Luna quickly tried to escape, but they caught her. Clutching onto her, one soldier approached. He took his sword, but she wiggled free from the other's arms. Luna turned to run, but a rope shot around her, and she fell to the ground. Twisting abruptly, she saw the soldier who was attacking her. He was a graceling, probably graced with hand-eye co-ordination. Luna let a gasp escape her throat as she felt the man kick her in the stomach, but that wasn't all. This graceling was almost familiar, but in her pain, Luna couldn't grasp it. He stared at her angrily, and then took his sword. He was strangely short... Luna saw the man take the sword and lower it to her head. Right before he took the death blow, the soldier twisted around and hit the two other knights. They staggered backwards. By now, Luna could hear that the other soldiers, the dungeon-guards who had chased her before, were coming. She quickly fumbled with the rope entwining her, and then, she was free. Luna felt extremely powerful. She grabbed the sword of a man lying on the ground, and quickly got an idea.

Before asking the man his name, Luna removed the unconscious man's armour. She swung it onto her, just in time. She lowered the vision plate. Soldiers swarmed around her.

"What happened to the girl? Did she escape? Why is this man unconscious?" People asked angrily. Luna replied in a deep voice, "She ran off. She fought me, and hit this man with my own sword as I tried to hit her. No time for questions, she went that way." Luna pointed a finger towards the castle gardens. Once the guards were gone, the knight who saved her lifted her helmet. Luna gasped.

She knew this girl.


End file.
